Real Flower Business

Education and Business Training for Floral Designers.

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Do you want to spend less time on e-mail replies?

Do you ever track how many hours you spend replying to e-mails? I had no idea how much time I’d spend in front of my computer when I started my floral design business nearly 17 years ago.

For YEARS I found myself struggling with how to tell someone I couldn’t hold their date without a deposit,…or firmly explain that I will not reduce my price,… or how to strike a balance on how “tough” to *really* get when requesting a payment that’s overdue.

The reality of modern-day customer service is this: E-mail is a critical form of client communication; it’s how they get to know you!

Your customers can’t see your facial expressions or interpret your “tone”… so it’s critical that every word you choose is meaningful and accurate.

But it takes so much time to craft the perfect reply, right?!!

It took years to hone my voice so it felt professional, authentic and clear.

So let me ask you a question…

Do your e-mails increase your authority, grow trust with your clients, and make them feel well cared for?

What if you could…

  • Feel CONFIDENT when explaining your terms to a client,
  • Forget FEARS about not being taken seriously,
  • Gain AUTHORITY as you build trust with your prompt, concise replies,
  • Make stronger CONNECTIONS so your customers can actually understand your expectations,
  • Increase the INCOME you’ll be able to generate when you state your minimums clearly so clients say YES to your next proposal, no questions asked!

Confidence. Authority. Connections. Income.

… Do you want these things in your business?

THEN START…

  • Confidently establishing your authority…

  • Boldly claiming your role as the leader your clients need you to be…

  • Seamlessly building trust with clients who “get you”…

AND STOP…

  • staring at your computer screen searching for the “right thing to say”…
  • wondering if you’ll ever hear back from a prospect…
  • feeling like your clients are in the driver’s seat….

For my wedding and event clients, I often send the same basic e-mails over and over again throughout the season, so after about 15 years in business I created 12 E-mail Templates for Florists with some of my most frequent (& sometimes tricky!) customer conversations, as well as 10 More Templates with Difficult Client Conversations Made Easy! 

Now THRU Oct. 31 at 3pm Eastern Time THEY’RE ON SALE! SAVE $20 OFF BOTH SETS OF TEMPLATES WHEN YOU BUY A BUNDLE.

Here’s what ya get in 10 E-mail Templates:

How to….

  1. Tell someone you can no longer “hold their date”.
  2. Present a proposal that’s over budget.
  3. Ask someone why they did NOT book with you.
  4. Tell someone you’re not a good fit for their event.
  5. Reply to a complaint.
  6. Bill for damaged or missing rental items after an event.
  7. Explain you won’t order flowers until full payment is received.
  8. Tell someone that their most recent changes/additions will result in a price increase.
  9. Tell someone you will not update their proposal (again) or meet (again) without a deposit.
  10. Respond when a wedding is cancelled.
And here’s what’s included in 12 E-Mail Templates:
How to…
  1. Say, Hello in an introduction e-mail.
  2. Present a minimum.
  3. Present a proposal, contract and invoice.
  4. Tell someone you’re unavailable for their date.
  5. Tell someone you will not lower your price.
  6. Follow up if you don’t hear back from a prospect.
  7. Tell someone you cannot hold their date without deposit.
  8. Confirm receipt of contract & deposit.
  9. Confirm receipt of contract, but missing deposit.
  10. Confirm receipt of deposit, but missing contract.
  11. Request final changes and final payment.
  12. Confirm receipt of final payment before event.

Plus These Bonuses:

  • 5 E-Mail Etiquette Tips
  • How To Ask For a Testimonial

Click here to grab my templates and start leveraging your e-mails to increase your confidence, authority, and income.

This is the lowest price I’ve ever offered on templates!

…so if there is even an inkling of a desire to grab these templates, jump on it right now.

I’m closing the doors on this sale at 3pm EST on Oct. 31.

Templates save you time! You can customize your own e-mail templates by modifying the language and phrasing provided in my templates. Simply create an e-mail folder for your most commonly used conversations, then, copy, paste into a new e-mail and adjust as needed to suit your client!

Florists often tell me they use these e-mail templates the same day they buy them! Copy, paste, rinse, repeat!

If you have questions for me, get in touch! floralartvt@gmail.com

xo. -Alison

 

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Are You Ready To Rise Above The Competition?

Hey Floralpreneur®,

How much do you worry about your competition?

  • Do you follow your competitors on social media and cringe when you see how “great” they’re doing?
  • Are you eager to know “who got that wedding”–the one that didn’t book with you?
  • Does jealousy or comparison creep in and undermine your confidence?

What would it look like if you could eliminate your competition?

Now, hold on…..I’m not talking about putting other local florists out of business!

Your goal should be to “stand out amongst the competition” and the surest way to do that is by being the truest, most authentic version of yourself in your business and your brand so that the right clients choose you!

online education for florists, real flower business

Oftentimes, business owners think they need to hire a branding or marketing “expert” to help attract the right clients, but that can cost tens of thousands of dollars!….really.

A “flower famous” friend of mine was quoted over $30k for a marketing expert to help her with her floral business….now, what florist has that kind of money lying around? Not many, that’s for sure.

So if you’re working on a limited budget, what are your options? How do you gain brand recognition and attract the right clients?

The answer?….there are many ways to develop your brand and improve your marketing efforts and you can do it yourself if you’re willing to dig deep and do the work.

You don’t have to be a marketing expert to have a good brand and stand out amongst your competition….but you do need to do some “brand exploration” to get to the heart of what makes your brand special so that the right customers continue to choose you over someone else!

This is the work we do in my course, The Art of Good Business! And for students who are enrolled in The Art of Good Business before Oct. 22nd you’re getting a bonus!

I’m hosting a BONUS 4th Quarter Biz Planning Jam Session to help jumpstart you end-of-year plans and THEN I’m going to walk through the entire course with you, LIVE IN JANUARY in our private Facebook group.

This biz jam session is happening Oct. 22-26th and if you want in, you can apply for a free scholarship HERE ($1,000 value) or click HERE to sign up for the course today!

If you’re a floral designer who….

  • Writes your own website copy & social media posts
  • Manages your marketing & branding strategy
  • Struggles with “selling yourself” sometimes
  • Still spends too much time with clients who aren’t a good fit
  • Wonders if you even have a brand yet…

Then The Art of Good Business was made for you!

So if you’re ready to zero-in on your ideal clients and move your marketing efforts to the next level, keep reading for more info or click here to sign up!

real flower business

In The Art of Good Business you’ll learn how to focus your marketing efforts and take your website from beautiful to functional by honing the voice of your brand so that you can prequalify leads and attract more clients that love you.

Who’ll benefit the most from The Art of Good Business?

Business owners at any level will gain tremendous insight from the course,

however, if you’ve been in business for 5 years or more and want to refine a clearer branding message to attract better clients, you’ll have the most to gain from the lessons inside the course.

For people who are enrolled in the course, I’ll be leading a power planning session in October(to put some foundational plans in motion!)…and then I’m going to jump in with more live coaching for the entire month of January in our private group–like a bootcamp for boot strapping biz owners….it’s gonna be good.

Once you sign up, you’re invested in me, so I want to make sure you know that I’m invested right back….because I am totally invested in your success! (You can read real florists’ reviews of my course here!)

This course is not:

  • a memoir,
  • it’s not a “quick fix”,
  • it’s not about budgeting or numbers,
  • it’s not a mash-up of my “all my other courses”,
  • and it’s definitely not for everyone.

Don’t sign up if you’re not willing to get out of your comfort zone and “do work”.
You’ll have to take action to get results.

I’ll be there to help push you over the finish line, but you have to take the first step to get started (read more)!

“I just booked my biggest gig yet, by $3k…

I just have to say this course, Alison’s content works!…my ideal client is more clearly defined, I’ve mostly reworked my web copy, have been better about blogging, and more intentional about how I talk to my followers on social media posts.” -Jessica Ormond

 

More from Alison:

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been in business for 3 years, 3 minutes or 3 decades…nothing defines your brand more than the experience you create for your customers.

The most important thing I’ve done for my floral design business over the past 15 years is work towards perfecting a customer service experience that reflects the values of my brand and speaks directly to the heart of my ideal clients.

I’m not a traditional “branding expert”, but I have studied and practiced (and practiced) my own approach to branding since I started my business in 2001.  It’s said to take 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” to achieve mastery in a field. I’ve easily exceeded that quota as I’ve worked on mastering my brand.

I began my career in the floral industry over 24 years ago, and I’ve been practicing and developing the voice of my brand in order to lead with integrity and attract my ideal clients ever since. (And I’m practicing still….)

Join me on a brand building journey to help you hone your voice.

Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have: info@floralartvt.com

With love from me to you,

Alison

floral design business courses, floristry, floral design, Alison Ellis

Definition of Eliminate: (Verb)

a: to put an end to or get rid of : REMOVE; eliminate errors in your marketing efforts

b: to remove from consideration; eliminate worries about your competition

You can get a sample preview of the course HERE.

“Making money is art…

and working is art…

and good business is the best art.”

-Andy Warhol

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Why you don’t want to book every customer

Pro tip: You don’t want to book every customer! You only want to book the right customers.

When I was first starting out in my business, I thought the goal was to book every client….no matter what it took!

  • Lower the price on a few things to meet the budget? Sure.
  • Meet at a super inconvenient time for me? Sounds great!
  • Schedule a second call to go over “all the things” before you decide to work with me? Um, OK!

Whatever reassurance a customer needed to be persuaded that I was the right florist for the job, that’s what I’d do!

But over time, with experience and concerted efforts to dive deeper into who my ideal customers actually are, I’ve come to realize that I don’t want to book every customer!….not by a long shot. I only want to book the right customers for me.

Who’s “the right customer”?

Well, it’s someone who doesn’t need to be convinced that I’m the right choice because she can already feel that I’m the right choice from her preliminary experience with my company and my brand.

I set the rules to clearly communicate the steps in our booking process, so neither one of us invests too much time before we’ve decided we’re a good match.

I share how I’ve perfected this process over the past 16 years in my courses for wedding florists: How To Write Proposals That Sell  and my Wedding Workflow pdfs show you how to spend less time before booking a client and how to lay out the steps for clients to follow from the initial inquiry to post-wedding day follow-up, click here to read more about my courses.

It takes a lot of work to learn how to speak directly to the heart of your ideal clients.

By tapping into who my clients really are and what they really care about, I’m able to reach them on a deeper level and develop a level of trust before we even speak.

I’ve streamlined my proposal process so that I’m not “giving away all the details”, yet I still provide enough detail that a client can trust that we’re on the same page.

It may not happen over night, but with time and practice, the booking process starts to take shape and you’ll be able to prequalify clients before investing too much time.

You can find all my downloadable pdfs here!

Keep doing beautiful work, floralpreneurs!

With love from me to you,

Alison

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Reaching Your Potential As A Florist

Can you remember who you were, before the world told you who you should be?

-Danielle LaPorte (from The Fire Starter Sessions)

In The Fire Starter Sessions, Danielle LaPorte writes, “Invest in your second nature.” She goes on to talk about “the acorn theory”; the idea that we’re all “born with a soul that shapes our destiny–that our full potential already lives within us.”

The theory was first published by James Hillman. He explains it like this:

The acorn theory expresses that unique something that we carry into the world, that is particular to us, which is connected to our “daimon”.

(The Greek word, daimon, can be considered your “inner voice”. The Roman word was genius, and the Christian word is guardian angel.)

To quote Hillman, “They are all a little bit different, yet each expresses something that you are, that you have, that is not the same as the personality you think you are.”

In other words, we must make our way through the layers of soil and compost and debris until the conditions are right and we’re ready to grow to our true potential.

Because you were born an acorn…with everything it takes to become a huge oak right inside you. And it’s been there all along.

It does take time to perfect your processes and meet (or exceed) your goals and make enough money to quit your “other job“….and the time it takes to streamline, perfect and practice can feel pretty dark some days.

We’re going to spend some time in the dark before we can burst into the light!

So this post is for the late bloomers–the floralpreneurs who’ve lived a first life before pursuing a floral dream or falling into flowers as a side-hustle…

And it’s for the determined–the florists who try and try and then, try again, because there are always more layers to break through in this work to get to the light….

The florists who’ve worked slinging stems in someone else’s flower shop for a decade or two, and are finally branching out on their own….

The newly retired, newly single, new moms, new grandmas, new floristry students, basement Betty’s….

This one is for you….wherever you are on your floral journey….

I’m honored to be on this journey with you.

 

real flower business, online education for florists

Whether you’re a newly aspiring floral designer or a seasoned pro, I hope you’ll take advantage of some of my free resources, as well as my pdfs and online courses for florists.

Here’s an e-mail I received recently:

“Every email you send or post you make I find myself nodding my head and saying “yes…. yup… great advice… totally agree… that’s me… she’s spot on…”
You see, I’m one of your “seasoned” Floralpreneurs. July 1 marked the 24th anniversary of [my business]. I started slowly and have built my business thoughtfully and sustainably. All the things you teach are a confirmation to me that I’ve been doing it right! (that and having my biz sustain me and now my family for the past couple decades.) Your reminder that COGS should be no more than 30% has me tightening up a little bit. (I was just under 30% for 2017 and also for this year so far… but sometimes there’s that one wedding that sneaks over. I’m even more vigilant now thanks to you!)
I admire your floral business AND your Real Flower Business….Thanks for doing what you do! I look forward to connecting with you and participating in your group.“

Remember you don’t have to buy anything from me to be a floralpreneur! Join us over in my free Facebook group HERE!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

 

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There’s no such thing as a small wedding

After 16 years of running a solo-business venture I can say with certainty that there’s no such thing as a “small wedding”. Allow me elaborate….

Yes, there are “large weddings” and “crazy huge weddings” and “regular weddings” and there are weddings that are “not huge”, but small?…..now, “small” is something that’s hard to come by as a florist.

There’s a certain amount of work that goes into the planning process, even for a “small wedding”, which is virtually identical to the investment of time, creativity, mental space and administrative tasks as required for weddings 2-3x their size.

I hear floralpreneurs say “this is ‘just an order for bouquets’….why is this order turning into so much trouble?!…why does this client want to meet with me again?”….and believe me, I get it! If it’s a small-er order, florists sometimes feel that the client should just relax already!….because we do work that’s WAY more elaborate than this…..we’ve got you covered!

But there’s one very important flaw in this thinking; it requires that the client already trusts you.

It presumes that the client values you and your time and your art.

Even a very small wedding is a really big deal to the client…and as a florist it’s your job to give the same level of time and attention that you promise to all your customers if you’re going to build a consistent brand experience.

If a smaller gig gets a different service agreement, then define it. Let the client know the steps so they can work with you with ease. “If your wedding falls below our minimum we…..” (fill in the blank)

Do you require pick-up if they don’t meet your minimum? Do you only meet once? Meet twice? Include a mock-up? No mock-up, no delivery, no meeting? What are your rules? There’s no right answer. You choose the answer that jives with your brand.

What sort of customer service do you provide? What promises do you make to your customers? What’s not included?

If I promise personalized customer service (which I do), then I can’t offer sub-par service to clients who spend “only a small amount” on an event. I can’t say, “I provide outstanding customer service, unless you fall below X-amount in which case the service level decreases….” that’s not how I roll. That’s not what my brand is about.

As it turns out, even a “small wedding order” requires the same base-level of detail and professionalism as a larger one. If the clients were good enough to book, they’re good enough to wow.

Charge what you’re worth and even your smaller gigs can be worth your time & effort!

Keep doing beautiful work!

With love from me to you,

Alison

Need some pricing tips?

Check out my FREE course, 4 Pricing Mistakes Florists Make (click here to get it!).

Can a girl get some feedback?

Have you tried one of my courses? I’d love to hear your feedback and possibly quote you for a testimonial on my website. Click here to share your experience with a Real Flower Business Course. Even if you’ve only tried a FREE course, I want to know what you think of the content. I appreciate your time and input.